Machine for closing paper sacks



March 23 1926. 1,577,472

F. A. KUCERA ET AL MACHINE FOR CLOSING PAPER SACKS Filed p il 10, 192 eSheets-Sheet 1 I e J m. @50 1 I.

March 23 1926. '1,577 ,472

F. A. KUCERA ET AL MACHINE FOR CLOSING PAPER SACKS Filed April 10; 1924s Sheets-Sheet 2 March 23 ,1926; v 1,577,472

F. A. KUCERA ET AL v MACHINE FOR CLOSING PAPER SACKS Filed April 10,1924 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 March 23 ,1926. 1,577,472

- F. A. KUCERA ET AL MACHINE FOR CLOSING PAPER SACKS Filed April 10,1924 6 sheets-$118 4' will 1Y 3M MM 57% TVIarch Z3 1926. 1,577,472

F. A. KUCERA ET AL MACHINE FOR CLOSING PAPER SACKS Filed April 10, 2 6Sheets-Sheet 5 March 23 1926. 1,577,472

F. A. KUCERA ET AL MACHINE FOR CLOSING PAPER SACKS- Filed April 10, 19246 Sheets-Sheet 6 i provide a machine of the above type wherein UNITEDSTATES 1,571,472 PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK A. KUCERA AND CHARLES I". RUBEL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOISQASSIGNOIR TOOF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF I UNION SPECIAL MACHINE COMPANY,ILLINOIS.

MACHINE FOB CLOSINQ PAPETR SACKS.

Application filed April 10,1924. Serial No. 705,570.

To all whom it mag] concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK A. KUCERA and CHARLES F. RUBEL, citizens ofthe United States, residing respectively, at Chicago, in the county ofCook, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Machines for Closing Paper Sacks, of which the followingis a; description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing and tothe figures of reference marked thereon.

The invention relates to new and useful improvements in sewing machines,and more particularly to a sewing machine which is adapted to stitch andclose apaper sack.

An object, of the invention is to provide a machine'for closing papersacks wherein the fabric is placed along the walls of the sack at themouth thereof as it is stitched so that the stitches for closing thesack pass first through the fabric and then through the paper walls atthe mouth of the sack so that the fabric affords an anchorage for thestitches.

Another object of the invention is toprovide a machine of the above typewith a trimming mechanism having the trimming blade thereof operating inadvance of the stitching mechanism so that the walls at the mouth of thesack are trimmed prior to the closin of the sack.

Afi rther object of the inventionis to the fabric .which serves as ananchorage for the stitches extends about the trimme sides of tlzhe sack,thus enclosing the mouth of-the sacr.

A still further 'object of the invention is to provide a machine of theabove type having means for cutting thethreads between successive sacks,wherein the cutting blade cutting the threads andlthetrimming blade fortrimming the'paper atthe mouth of the sack are both operated by the sameconnection with the movingpart of the sewing mechanism. l

A still further object of the invention is to provide a machine of theabove type wherein the fabric passes through a folder of the Englishbinder type, which folder is located close to the work supporting arm ofthe machine and is. ieldingly mounted so that it may be raise thep'ag'ts of the-machine to permit the ready lustration one" or moved awayfrom strip roll is mounted on a bracket carried by "the arm of themachine, so that the entire machine with its fabric support is a unit,

and can beraised and lowered as a unit.

These and other objects will in part be obvious and will in part behereinafter more fully disclosed.

In the drawings which show by way of ilembodiment of the inven tion i 1Figure 1 is a front view ,of a portion of a filled bag closingmachine-.ihaving our improvements ap lied theret0;-q..i

Fig. 2 is a sideview of the sewing head from the side of the machineentered by the bag to be closed;

other side from that shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view showing the end of the cylinder and thestationary cutter of the thread cutting mechanism;

Fig. 5 is an enlargedview of the end of the cylinder and the partsadjacent thereto as viewed from below;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the presser foot as viewed from above; T

Fig? is -an enlarged front view of the work cylinder, also showing theresser foot,

the trimming mechanism an guideassoeiated therewith; n

Fig. 8 is :hfront view of the end. of the thread cutter andtrimmingmechanism, also showing diagrammatically the fabric strip}passing through the machine, and

Fig. 9 is a section Fig. 7.

The filled bagclosing machine which is adapted for closing the'mouth ofa paper sack- It is a well-known fact that paper easilytears and is notreadily adapted for a sack closed" by stitching, Prior to ourinventio'n,it has been proposed to provide a fabric strip which may beused as ananchorage for the stitched for closing, the stitches thus the" strip 9oFig. 3 is a side view of the machine at the on the line 9-9 of inventiondirected broadly a stitches so that the mouth of a bag maybe anchored bythe fabric serve to hold the mouth closed under the strain of handling.

The patent to \Veatherwax No. 962,934.", granted June 28, 1910, showssuch a bag. This VVeatherwax patent, however, is a specially constructedbag in which the fabric strip is made a part of the bag before it isfilled. The present invention has to do with a bag of the type abovereferred to and includes a machine wherein the fabric strip is appliedto the bag as it is stitched, so that the paper bags maybe made up asusual, filled and fed into the machine without any thought or care ofthe attachment of the fabric strip thereto. The machine includes atrimming mechanism which operates to trim the sack in advance of theneedle so that the trimmed side edges will be a definite distance abovethe line of stitching. A fabric guide of the English binder type isarranged to direct a strip of fabric into the machine and fold the sameabout the trimmed side faces of the mouth of the bag and in such a waythat the needle will pass through a side wall of the folded strip first,and then through the paper walls of the bag, and the fabric strip willafford an anchorage for the stitches so that the threads will not tearthrough the paper. The improved filled bag closing machine includesmeans whereby the needle and the bag to be closed have a relative stepby step movement during the stitching of the bag for closing the same.This may be brought about by the movement of the bag itself, on asuitable conveyor, a supporting carriage or the like,

' or by the movement of the sewing head.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings we have shown a portion of a filled bag sewingmachine wherein the paper bag is indicated at 1. A support for the bagis indicated at 2. As

noted above, said support may be of the traveling belt type as shown inthe patent to Bigelow No. 895,311, granted December 1, 1907, or it maybe a stationary support and the sewing head mounted to travel back andforth relative to the support. The sewing head of the improved filledbag sewing machine except for the trimming mechanism applied thereto isof the type shown in th patent granted to D. S. Seymour, July 6, 1915,No. 1,145,620 and includes a work supporting cylinder 3 which is carriedby a standard 4. Said standard is also provided with an overhanging arm5 in which a needle bar 6 is reciprocated by the aid of a needle lever7. Said needle lever 7 is connected to the needle bar 6 by means of alink 8. At the lower end of the work supporting cylinder there is athroat plate 9 provided with slots through which the feed dog 10operates to feed the parts being stitched. This feed dog and itsoperating mechanism is similar to that shown in the Seymour patent abovereferred to, and detail description thereof is not thought necessary.The bag is held against the throat plate by means of a presser foot 11carried by a presser bar 12 mounted in the head of the machine. Thepresser foot is pivoted at 13 to a supporting shank carried by thepresser bar 12. Said presser foot has a relatively long turned-upextension 14- at its forward end so as 10 aid in the directing of thebag between the presser foot and the throat plate. The worksupportingcylinder is rounded off at 15 so as to cooperate with theextension of the presser foot in the directing of the bag to thestitching mechan1sm.-

As has already been noted, the paper sack as it passes beneath thepresser foot is trimmed by means of a trimming mechanism. This trimmingmechanism includes a movable trimming blade 16 which cooperates with astationary blade 17 formed as a part of the throat plate (see Fig. 8 ofthe drawings). The movable blade is carried by a lever 19 which ispivoted at 20 to a depending bracket 21 carried by the head of themachine. The end of the lever 19 opposite the trimmer blade is pivotedat 22 to a link 23 which in turn is pivoted to an arm 24: extending fromthe thread cutter lever 25. This thread cutter lever and its operatingmechanism will be referred to more in detail later. The trimmed ofl'portion of the bag engages a strip deflector 26 which deflects saidtrimmed oif strip away from the stitching mechanism.

It is rather difficult to bring the extreme edges of the side walls ofthe bag together, and particularly so of a paper sack. When the trimmingmechanism is used, however, for trimming these side walls on a definiteline relative to the stitching mechan sm, it is lmmaterial whether theedges of the side. faces of the bag are at the same height or not whenthe bag goes into the machine.

All that is necessary is that these edges shall be above the trimmingline so that both the side walls will be trimmed and thus leave thetrimmed portions clamped by the presser foot and in such position that aneedle will pass readily through the same as the feed carries the bag tothe stitching mechanism.

A needle is indicated at 6 in the drawings, and cooperating with saidneedle is a thread carrying looper 27 which is preferably of theconstruction shown in the Seymour patent above referred to. Between thetrimming blade 16 and the needle 6 is a guide 28 of the English bindertype, which is adapted to guide, fold and invert the fabric strip. Thisguide 28 is located ina recess 29 in the throat plate, and a recess 30in the presser foot and extends both to the front and rear of the planeof the throat plate, so that the mouth of the bag passing along the faceof bag to the next bag. 7

may be caused to enter a slot 42 in rear of the needle (3 (See Fig. 8).At the rear end.

the throat plate, will pass through the U shaped channel on the forwardend ofthe machine as clearly shown in Fig. 1, and then across theguiding post 34 into the guide 28. The stri as it leaves the guide 1sinverted as 0 early shown in Fig. 3, and the sidewalls of the bagpassintothe lnverted strip in such a way-that the needle-will form a line ofstitches 35 through the fabrlc strip and through the side walls of thepaper sack. Thus it is that the fabric strlp serves as an anchorage forthe stitches and also serves as a clamping means for clamping the sidewalls of the sack one against the other, and thus holding the bagclosed. As shown in Fig. 2, it will be noted that thisguide 28 is infront of the removable cover plate 36.

The guide is carried by a shank portion 37 mounted on two bolts 38 and39 which extend through slots in the shank. While these bolts supportthe guide, they do not clamp it. It is free to move on the bolts. Aspring 40 bears against the left-hand end of the shank and forces theguide toward the cylindricalwork support. The purpose of this ieldingmounting of the guide is to permit the guide to be raised slightly towithdraw or insert the cover plate 36. A guard wire or bar 41 is securedto the presser foot and shields the needle and the trimming blade sothat the operator will not be caught by these parts during the operationof the machine. After the bag has been stitched, it passes from themachine and the machine forms a chain of stitches extending from oneThis chain of stitches of this slot there is a cutter 43 carried by acutting lever 25 referred to above. Said lever is pivoted at 44 to a lugcarried by the cylindrical work supporting arm. The lever -is oscillatedby means of a link 45 which is pivoted at 46 to the lever, and ispivoted at 47 to the arm 48 (see Fig. 8). Said arm- 48 is in turnoscillated by a moving part of the feeding mechanism of the machine.This cutting member is similar in construction to the thread cuttingmember-of the Seymour Patent No. 1,170,349 granted February 1, 1916, andfurther descri tion thereof is not thought necessary. 1V ile, in thepresent invention, this cutting lever performs the function of cuttingthe thread, it also preferably performs another function, that is, itoperates to cut the tape which is stitched to the mouth of the bagduring the closing thereof. In other words, the tape, together with thestitches will run from one bagmto' another, and the severing knifesevers bot the tape" and the stitching threads.

The cutting blade 43 cooperates with a-stationary cutting blade 4Qywhichis clamped in a groove in the work's'upport bymeans of a screw 50. Anoiling pad 51 is located directly in rear of the cutting blade 43, andthe movable blade is pressed against the stationary blade by meansof aspring 52. As shown in the present embodiment of the invention, thecutting blade which severs the stitches and the tape between filledclosed .sacks and the trimming blade which trims the walls of the sack,are both operated from the same shaft on the arm of the sewing .head.'It will be understood, of course, that these members may be otherwiseoperated without departing from the spiritof the invention as set forthin the appended claims.

The sacks are filled in any desired manner, and are placed on thesupport therefor and fed to the stitching mechanism, or placed on asuitable support such as weighing scales or the like, and the sewingmechanism fed across the top'of the stationary sack. The

side walls of thes'ack are brought together aid are directed between thepresser' foot and the throat plate so that said side walls will betrimmed by the trimmingmember. The trimmed edges passing the trimmingblade will enter the fabric guide and the fabi'ic guide will fold thestrip of fabric about the side edges so that the fabric and the trimmededges of the sack will'be entered by the needle and a line of stitchesformed parallel with the trimmed edges and anchored in the fabric stripso as to close the bag. The bags after they are closed pass one afterthe other out from beneath the presser foot and the chain of stitchesconnecting ad.- jacent bags will drop into the path of the thread cutter43 which is continuously reciprocating.

It is obvious that minor changes may be made in the details ofconstruction and the arrangement of the parts. The essential featuresconsist in the trimming of the side walls of the bag prior to theclosing of the same and the placing of the fabric strip about the mouthof a paper sack so as to form a proper anchorage for the stitches.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, isv 1. A sewing machine for closing a filled.sack comprising a support for the filled sack, a sewing head overhangingthe support and including stitching mechanism having a horizontallyreciprocating needle, and a trimming mechanism having a trimming bladeoperating in front of and above said needle to trim and even the sidewalls of the sack prior to the stitching of said side walls together forclosing the sack.

2. A sewing machine for closing a filled paper sack comprising a supportfor the filled sack, a sewing head overhanging the support and includingstitching mechanism having a horizontally reciprocating needle, and atrimming mechanism having a trimming blade operating in front of andabove said needle to trim and even the side walls of the sack prior tothe stitching of said side walls together for closing the sack, andmeans operating between the trimming blade and the needle for placing afabric along each side of the mouth of the sack after it is trimmed andprior to the stitching of the sack so that the stitches Will passthrough 'the fabric strip and'the side edges of the sack thereby closingthe sack.

3. A sewing machine for closing a filled paper sack comprising a supportfor the filled sack, a sewing head overhanging the support andincli'iding stitching mechanism having a horizontally reciprocatingneedle, and a trimming mechanism having a tr'nr ming blade operating infront of and above said needle to trim and even the side walls of thesack prior to the stitching of said side walls together for closing thesack, a strip guide located between the trimming blade and the needlefor guiding and folding a strip of fabric about the trimmed side wallsof the mouth of the sack and positioning said strip so that the needlewill pass through the strip as well as the side walls of the sack andthe stitches will be anchored in the fabric strip.

at. A sewing machine for closing a filled paper sack comprising asupport for the tilled sack, a sewing head overhanging the support andincluding stitching mechanism having a horizontally reciprocatingneedle, a trimming mechanism having a trimming blade operating in frontof and above said needle to trim and even the sidewalls of the sackprior to the stitching of said side walls together for closing the sack,a strip guide located between the trimming blade and the needle forguiding and folding a strip of fabric about the trimmed sidewalls of themouth of the sack and positioning said strip so that the needle willpass through the strip as well as the side walls of the sack and thestitches will be anchored in the fabric strip, and means for yieldinglysupporting "said strip guide so that it may be raised vertically tofacilitate the removing of the cover plate of the machine.

5. A sewing machine for closing a-filled papersack comprising a supportfor the filled sack, a sewing head overhanging the support and includingstitching mechanism having a horizontally reciprocating needle, and atrimming mechanism having a trimming blade operating in front of andabove said needle to trim and even the side walls of the sack prior tothe stitching of said side walls together for closing the sack, andmeans operating between the trimming blade and the needle for placing afabric along each side of the mouth of the sack after it is trimmed andprior to the stitching of the sack so that the stitches will passthrough the fabric strip and the side edges of the sack thereby closingthe sack, and a severing mechanism located in rear of the stitchingmechanism and operating in a plane at right angles to the line of feedfor severing the fabric strip and the enchained stitches extendingbetween the stitching mechanism and the closed bag.

(3. A sewing machine for closing a filled paper sack comprising asupport for the filled sack, a sewing head overhanging the support andincluding stitching mechanism having a horizontally reciprocatingneedle. and a trimming mechanism having a trimming blade operating infront of and above said needle to trim and even the side walls of'thesack prior to the stitching of said side walls together for closing thesack, a strip guide located between the trimming blade and the needlefor guiding and folding a strip of fabric about the trimmed side wallsof the mouth of the sack and positioning said strip so that the needlewill pass through the strip as well as the side walls of the sack andthe stitches anchored in the fabric strip, and a severing mechanismlocatediin rear of the stitching mechanisn'i and operating in a plane atright angles to the line of feed for severing the fabric strip and theenchained stitches extending between the stitching mechanism and theclosed bag.

In tcstimony whereof, we affix our signatures.

FRANK A. KUCERA. CHAS. F. RUBEL.

